Blog Vocabulary for New Writers

I was talking about blogging the other day with a new freelance writer, but she had to stop me and tell me to bring the vocabulary down a notch. It's easy to get carried away and forget that everyone doesn't have the jargon you do. When I advise new writers to start a blog as part of their marketing efforts, I almost always point them to this list of the most common blogging terms. Hope it helps some other new writers out there.

Address bar- the bar at the top of the webpage where you type the URL.

Adsense- ads from Google that run on the internet, even on your blog if you sign up.

Archive- a list of your past posts.

Beta- a description meaning a program or software is not yet completely finished, but is in test mode.

Blogger- the person who blogs/author.

Blogger- Google's blog systems/platform. It's fairly simple and often recommended for new bloggers due to ease of use.

Blogging- the actual act of writing posts, or, over the long term, the ongoing activity of keeping up a blog is called blogging.

Blogosphere- slang for the world/culture of blogs on the net

Calendar- displays a record of when you've posted

Category/Label- placing each post in a category or labeling it with a topic will help readers to find posts that interest them.

Coding- using HTML codes to alter the appearance of the net, such as making it bold, or to insert links, photos or so on. However, many platforms have this built in with the simple click of a button.

Comment Form- space where your readers are able to interact with you by leaving comments

Comments- feedback and conversation from your readers.

Content- the text entries, photos and videos in your blog

Cookies- when your computer saves info about where/what you've visited on the net.

Dashboard- administrative area where you manipulate your blog

Domain name- what someone types into the address bar to find a site, the URL

Email subscription- when someone signs up to receive an email whenever you post

Flame war- insults, attacks or personal arguments in the comments.

Font- how the type appears

Google news alert- service that sends notice when news stories relating to your topic comes up

HARO- "help a reporter out.com"- a service that connects experts with the people who want to interview them, a wonderful resource for bloggers and journalists

Header- top of a document, blog post or webpage, typically contains the title, author, etc

Link- a pathway to another page on the web

Padding- putting together many posts to get your blog ready to roll out, or to prep for a vacation/time away from writing

Permalink- the permanent place on the web where you can always find one certain post.

Platform- software program used to blog.

Rankings- how well a blog, post, or website performs as far as getting traffic.

RSS Feed- similar to email subscription above

SEO- search engine optimization, making your text optimal for the attention of search engines like Google, which helps you get traffic and ranking.

Title- can be the title of either your blog or of a post.

Widget- items on the side of your blog like calendar, archive, Adsense. Anything in the side columns.

WYSIWYG- What You See Is What You Get (if you are posting in WYSIWYG mode, then you are NOT using code. What you type is what is seen on the blog after you publish.)

Hope that clears up some of the "coded" language out there! A blog is worth the undertaking for your marketing efforts, and this kind of information will come as second nature as you explore and learn.